Surviving as a small business in a competitive market

Opening up a new business is difficult specially if you’re entering a market with existing players. Not everyone can come up with a brilliant out of the box business idea, most of the businesses (rather quite successful ones) have stuck to the conventional business ideas and plans. It can get sometimes tricky for the new players (small guys) to compete with the masters of the market who have been running their businesses for years if not generations.

The usual norm for small guys to go against larger sharks is to cut margins and compete on price. It can work if you keep your overheads low and keep a keen eye on your P&Ls. This necessarily does not mean you have to sell at the lowest every time. Sometimes the product needs to speak for itself and so does the man selling it. You may have heard the term “every coin has two sides” so does competing on prices has its pros and cons. It may bring you new business but it won’t help you in the long term as it makes it extremely difficult to scale up the business. Any business needs funds to grow, one way would be to raise funds by debts but it comes with its own complications of additional interest payments.

However we can do some things differently if not uniquely to stand out from the crowd.

• Work on your marketing while keeping the costs low
• Instead of offering flat discounts, you can offer bundle offers which would in turn help you move your inventory fast.
• Know your market better than anyone else, offering free consultation can have positive impact
• Go digital- having an online presence and being proactive about it. It costs less but it has a massive effect in this 21st century digital world.
• You aren’t the only small player in your space, when competing with big businesses you can have an approach of pooling your resources with other small guys and have strategic alliances.
• Always invest on talent, a company is only as good as people working in it. Having some experienced members can help you train your newer members and get them up to speed.
• Learn to network, good networking with the right people will take your business to the unfathomable heights.

The most important thing a new business has to learn is to be CONSISTENT! As they say Rome wasn’t built in a day. Similarly, it takes time to build a successful business. One needs to learn to be patient and not give up after facing a few adversities (which I mind you, you will face). You need to learn from it, improve yourself and keep moving.

If you have any business idea in your mind and are scared of the competition, my advice to you would be to be bold, do your research, and take the leap of faith. I hope this article helps with new businesses and small business alike to stay competitive in these competitive times